More homes on the market in the Basin
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 months, 1 week AGO
This home in Moses Lake was listed for $371,500, according to the real estate website Zillow. The median home price in Grant County was $414,425 in July.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 7, 2026 1:45 AM
MOSES LAKE — People hoping to buy a home in July had a better selection available to them than a year ago, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 of Washington’s 39 counties.
Active listings across Washington increased by almost 20 percent in July 2026 over July 2025, according to the NWMLS data and new listings increased 10.5 percent. In Grant County, active listings were up 6 percent, but new listings were down 26.77%. Adams County showed lower numbers in both areas, with new listings down 44.4% and total active listings down 15.5%.
Between June 2026 and July 2026, active listings rose 17.24% in Grant County. Adams County had 10 active listings in July and nine in June.
The median home price in Grant County was $414,425 in July 2026, an increase of 1.3% year-over-year. In Adams County, the median price was $375,000, compared to $349,999 a year ago. The statewide median was $640,000, a decrease of 1.5% from July 2025.
Washington’s full home inventory would take 3.4 months to sell in July 2026, according to the NWMLS data. That represents a 23.7% increase from 2025 and an increase of 112.5% from the same time in 2023. A healthy market is considered to have 4-6 months of inventory, according to the NWMLS. Grant County had 5.8 months of inventory in July 2026, up from 4.3 in 2025. Adams County’s figure was 7.0 in 2026 compared to 8.3 in 2025.
The average 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate was 6.66% Wednesday, up from 6.58% a week ago but a decrease from 6.72% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac.
“Interest rates, which averaged over 6.5% during the month (slightly higher than the previous month), continued to discourage buyers,” Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, wrote in the NWMLS release. “The Federal Reserve Bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept short-term interest rates unchanged when they met late in the month due to the ongoing pressures of high inflation stemming from the continuing war with Iran. Expectations are that the FOMC will increase short-term rates later this year and early next year, implying that longer-term rates are also likely to go up.”
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”